Swimming’s been called the “sport of last resort” — no matter what your injury, it’s likely you’ll be able to swim through it. I came (back) to swimming a few years ago because of an injury myself, and relied on a pull buoy to immobilize my legs through a brutal hip injury in 2007.

Wait. Using a what to immobilize my legs?

I’m sure you’ve seen pull buoys in the buckets of swim toys at public pools, though you may or may not have seen someone use one. They’re not sexy and exciting and fun like a kickboard and flippers, which everyone seems to be an expert in using (why, oh why, do people insist on using flippers when there are more than five people sharing a lane?). But the humble pull buoy, just a figure-8-shaped piece of foam, can help you work on your pull and alignment, not to mention give you a kick-butt arms workout.More importantly, when you’ve got a lower body injury that even swimming aggravates, it can keep your hurt parts in place while you swim.

My trusty pull buoy.

My pull buoy had been gathering dust in the closet for months until this past week, when I started using it again thanks to a dinged-up toe (again, long story, big bruise). I was truly shocked at how challenging my first pull-only workout was, so I thought I’d share it as a workout tool here.